A Criminal is a Criminal

With Allah’s name The Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer.

A criminal is a criminal
Printed 07/24/05 Topeka Capital Journal
Letter to the Editor

By Imam Omar Hazim

The Islamic Center of Topeka joins Muslims worldwide in condemning the recent barbaric bombings in London. Our prayers have been offered along with Jews, Christians and other fair-minded people for world peace and condolences to the families of the victims. This was a calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded atrocity and the wrong doers will be brought to justice, if not in this world, surely the next. The Qu’ran says “If anyone kills the innocent people it is as if he killed all of humanity,” chapter 5, verse 35. The Qu’ran also condemns the act of taking one’s own life (suicide) chapter 4, verse 29. Prophet Muhammad said (pbuh), “The one who takes his life with a piece of steel will wake up in Hell repeating the same act.”

The Islamic Center of Topeka asks the media to stop using misleading terms like Islamic terrorist, Muslim terrorist and Islamic extremist. The word Islam and Muslim do not go with the word terrorist or extremist. Islam condemns terrorism and negates extremism. The words Islam and terrorist together, creates an oxymoron, they simply do not go together.

A criminal is a criminal, period. It is okay to identify a suspect by his or her physical attributes, but to identify a suspect by the religion that he or she proclaims is biased, unfair and negative stereotyping.

The Irish republican Army are not referred to as Catholic terrorists, but many of them are Catholic. It is reported that Hitler was a devout Christian, but he was never referred to as a Christian terrorist, after exterminating over 6 million Jews. After 400 years of slavery in this country, history has never referred to White America as Christian slave masters. However, many of them were indeed Christians. The BTK killer is not referred to as a Christian serial killer and he was an active member of his church.

The bottom line is this, we can not commit crimes and blame it on religion. Prosecute the criminal to the full extent of the law, but please leave a person’s sacred religion out of it!

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Who Are We

Islamic Center of Topeka is a non-profit religious organization. The purpose of the Center is to serve the best interests of the Muslim Community and providing a focal point for Islamic rituals and responsibly. It is a place of regular worship and education to give the life giving message of Al-Islam. The ICT is a place to present and teach Islam in a clear and practical way to its listeners and dispel misconceptions about Islam that are prevalent in our society.